Submission (#691) Approved

+4 shards: Entry
+7 shards: 786 words
+3 Shards: Featured Character
Total: 14 Shards

Wynter’s Chill

Some mornings were just meant to be different. Most are about simply waking up and pursuing one’s daily routine, getting by and keeping the fire stoked. Especially when the seasonal snow’s grip was at it’s tightest. This one, however, was special, as Carbery was soon to find out.

It should probably have come as no surprise after the previous day carried a sense of malaise. Something just felt ‘off’, which the ever relaxed wool could not seem to shake. “Something with my vibe today” he mused.

His sister Meilin had in fact called by the previous evening to call him out as such, having become something of a recluse in recent months. It had done nothing to help Carbery’s uncharacteristic mood, her pleas for him to “do something with his life” only served to irritate him, he rolled his eyes and grumbled, infuriating his tiger-like sibling.

Her thoughts were born of concern of course. Carbery hadn’t shown much interest in training or doing much other than keeping his cottage in order and she felt like he needed a push. However like any caring sister might do in this situation, she was perhaps a little harsh and the tone quickly soured.

“Chill, Sis, I got this. I aint gonna get sloppy” Carbery snapped. This did little to assuage Meilin’s concerns and with a groan she had turned on her hooves and left him to wallow.

Carbery’s thoughts swam as his tired eyes gazed through the window at the snowy nearby forest, the first beams of the morning sun breaking the clouds and glimmering off the boughs. Birds sang and the distant calls of the game in the forest echoed from afar. The morning should have been peaceful as ever, but the air was heavy with premonition.

All of a sudden the morning beams cut short and eclipsed, enough time to catch a sleepy wool’s attention and Carbery rose with a start, his eyes wide and mouth agape. “Can’t a cat catch a break? Aint no bird like that I’ve seen”. The sound of rushing wings struck next, the fur on his tail jumping to attention. “Aint no bird make that kinda sound either” he continued, throwing his gaze left and right for answers.

Carbery’s hooves found the ground and the pang of fear grew in strength. He was unaccustomed to feeling particularly threatened and his lack of interest in training with any sort of weapon caught him short. He didn’t want to admit Meilin had a point, but the thought of some unknown being outside his cabin brought question to his life choices.

The rushing sound ceased as the great visitor’s presence threw the woods into silence. Something that the young wool knew all too well signalled the presence of a great entity in the forest, his breathing grew shallow and his attention fixed on the door.

“Carbery”.

The voice cut through the silence as a blade would find it’s mark. The wool’s eyes grew wide. It was a deep voice dripping with power and presence, stoking Carbery’s cold feelings into a crescendo and his whole body reverberated as it rang through the cabin.

Yet it drew him forwards. That curiousity, that sense of the unknown and a call to adventure which pushed his baser instincts aside. Carbery’s hooves moved almost against his will as he stared at the door handle. His claws trembled as they closed around the cold metal and on three he grasped, twisted and flung open the door to confront this enigmatic visitation.

In response a great gust struck and Carbery’s eyes slammed shut as a great blizzard of wind and snow rushed him. The sound of wind mixing with the beating of great wings off into the distance. The light cracked through as Carbery’s eyes opened to the morning light, catching a great shadow disappearing over the tree-line of the forest.

As the first sounds of life began to chip at the silence, a slip of paper drifted down towards him on the remnants of the swirling breeze. A letter, Carbery’s name emblazoned upon it.

With trepidation Carbery bent down and took it, slipping a claw under the seal and eyeing it concern and curiousity. The words stood stark against the parchment and delivered their summons.

“You are summoned to meet Wynter at the palace in Aldlight with Queen Rue.”

Was it not addressed to him, Carbery would scarcely believe it was for him. He was a simple wool after all, but the feelings he’d had? His sister’s intervention? The letter? One thing was for sure, he would have to put his feelings aside. He had to know more and a new chapter in his life was about to begin.